GENEALOGY AND HISTORY SITES THAT ARE FREE TO ACCESS AND FREE TO USE

Hard to find but free places where you can research genealogy on line, without having to pay. Your comments and feedback are welcome to any post. If you find dead links, please let me know so I can update or remove links that are no longer valid.

About me: Jerry E. ReedFirst and foremost, I am a seasoned voice talent and media/public relations specialist with many other interests. I have been helping businesses with their narrations, presentations, commercials, and more all of my adult life.For more information about Jerry Reed - Voice Talent visit:http://jerryreed.com

I am also a genealogist, an avid photographer, and artisan bread baker.My genealogy interest began before personal computers were a family "must have." Personal genealogy computer research has blossomed in the past 15 years. It wasn't long before someone decided that they could charge for information that should be free and in the public domain. I have always been frustrated by that. Now, thousands and thousands of pages of useful facts are coming on line daily in free-to-access digital archives located all over the world. So, I'm constantly searching for new sources of free on line material. Blog updates follow this section and all links are added to the master list below the new posts.Updates are posted whenI discover another new source or when something I have already reviewed gets a major update. Have fun and enjoy.

Note: if you find a link no longer works, please let me know so I can research and update it.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

BAnQ (Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec) has several on-line databases available. It will be very helpful if you either know how to read French or know someone that does. French is the official language of Quebec. The initial descriptions are in English. However, much of this material is in French. Here's a list of searchable data I found on their genealogy page:

Register of interments in Mount Hermon Cemetery, 1848-1904
Parish censuses of Notre-Dame-de-Québec
Tutorships and curatorships in the judicial district of Montréal, 1791-1807
Coroners' inquests in the judicial districts of:
Beauce, 1862-1947, Charlevoix, 1862-1944, Montmagny, 1862-1952,
Québec, 1765-1930 and Saint-François (Sherbrooke), 1900-1954
Preliminary inquiries in the judicial district of Québec, 1897-1927
Events of 1837-1838: In the footsteps of the Patriots
Applications for free grants of land to families with 12 living children, 1890-1905
Inventories after death in the judicial district of Rimouski (CN 101), 1822-1918
Inventories after death in the judicial districts of Québec, Charlevoix, Beauce, Montmagny and Kamouraska, 1785 -1955
Inventories after death in the Montréal area, 1791-1840
List of transcriptions of notarial acts
Marriage contracts in the Charlevoix region, 1737-1920, and the Saguenay region, 1840-1911
Marriage contracts in the Québec City area, 1761-1946
Jail logs of Québec City prisons in the 19th century
Non-Catholic baptisms in the Montréal area, 1766-1835
Non-Catholic burials in the Montréal area, 1767-1899
Non-Catholic marriages in the Montréal area, 1766-1899